FEDERAL NDP Critic for Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Jenny Kwan on Friday noted that Canada has admitted more temporary foreign workers than immigrants since 2006. Migrant workers are desperate to seek opportunities to better their lives and that of their families. As a result, they are often subjected to abuse and exploitation.
Kwan pointed out that recently, four foreign temporary workers had won the right to a class action against Mac’s and three immigration consultants / services (Overseas Immigration Services, Overseas Career and Consulting and Trident Immigration, companies controlled by Surrey resident Kuldeep Bansal) who allegedly charged the workers money to obtain jobs with Mac’s, only to arrive in Canada to find that most of these jobs did not exist. An access to information request revealed that LMOs were issued for 486 positions with Mac’s through these immigration consultants companies between 2012 and early 2014.
Charles Gordon, one of the lawyers representing the workers, said: “Victims of this scheme were recruited in job fairs held in Dubai. They paid around $8,000 in fees in exchange for the promise of a job in Canada. Typically, they paid $2,000, often in cash, in Dubai, to get the process started, and then once they received an employment offer and an LMO, they had to wire another $6,000 before Overseas would provide them the documents allowing them come to Canada.”
Kwan said: “It is disturbing to learn that potentially hundreds of temporary foreign workers were victimized where people were duped on a false promise and treated as commodities that can be shipped into Canada, used up, and discarded. What’s even more disturbing is that this practice is continuing.”
“CBSA [Canada Border Services Agency] has supported a number of victims of Overseas in obtaining temporary resident permits while they have conducted an investigation into Bansal and Overseas. We understand that CBSA has been waiting for some time for approval of charges”, added Gordon.
Kwan pointed out that in June 2017, the Standing Committee on Citizenship and Immigration studied the issue of crooked consultants and tabled an unanimous report calling for an end to a self-regulatory system, direct action to protect applicants and resources for investigations. Unfortunately the recommendations have not been acted on.
“Hundreds of migrant workers were exploited and this class action is to seek justice and compensation for the victims. People who are or know victims of these scams could contact our law firm for assistance,” said Kirby Smith, another lawyer representing the workers in this case.
“The current system we have is broken. The approach of relying on the temporary workforce is short sighted. We cannot allow this exploitative practice to continue. It is time to take action. It’s time to fully embrace the principle that if you are good enough to work, you are good enough to stay,” said Kwan.
Corporations can use personal data such as location, device type, browsing history, purchase behavior, login status, and loyalty cards/programs to profile consumers and determine what different people are charged for the same goods and services.
How can we stop this from happening in Canada?
Join MP Jenny Kwan, Patrick Johnson - President of UFCW 1518, Jim Stanford - Economist and Director of Centre for Future Work, and other experts, for a public forum and community conversation about what surveillance pricing means for consumers and workers, how technology and personal data are changing the way prices are set, and what everyday people can do to fight back.
In the morning of August 31, Egyptian journalist Hossam el-Hamalawy received an email from Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC), informing him that it had made a “u-turn” and reversed its decision to deny him entry to Canada.
The reversal came in response to a coordinated solidarity campaign that successfully pressured IRCC, Canada’s department of immigration, to change course.
Almost two weeks earlier, on August 18, IRCC rejected el-Hamalawy’s application for an Electronic Travel Authorization (eTA), which is required for German citizens to visit Canada. An Egyptian exile and refugee, el-Hamalawy resides in Berlin and has German citizenship. His eTA application was to attend two public speaking engagements in September at Simon Fraser University in British Columbia, Canada.
IRCC initially rejected el-Hamalawy’s eTA application after requesting three times that he provide official documents from the Egyptian government that corroborate his experience of detention and torture under the regime.
In Toronto, the Executive Director of REDWORD.ca, Mostafa Al-A’sar, prepared an open letter to Minister Diab signed by prominent labour leaders, journalists, and human rights activists, including Mostafa Fouad, Executive Director of HuMENA for Human Rights; Ehab Lotayef, founding member of Egyptian Canadian Coalition for Democracy; Judy Rebick, feminist and journalist; and Sid Ryan, former President of the Ontario Federation of Labour.
Other activists launched an email campaign, which encouraged supporters to send letters to Minister Diab and her Parliamentary Secretary, Liberal Member of Parliament Peter Fragiskatos (London Centre), as well as their own Members of Parliament. Letters were sent from across Canada, including Halifax, Nova Scotia (Diab’s home riding) and London, Ontario (Fragiskatos’s home riding). Activists in the United States, Britain, and Europe also shared the email appeal.
In addition to the appeal, activists organized two emergency phone actions, which delivered over 200 voicemail messages to Diab, Fragiskatos, and dozens of Members of Parliament.
Finally, on August 31, Jenny Kwan shared her own open letter to the Minister, which echoed all the demands of the solidarity campaign.
My open letter to Immigration Minister Lena Diab requesting urgent intervention to facilitate entry into Canada for Hossam el-Hamalawy.
Mr. el-Hamalawy is an award-winning Egyptian journalist, scholar, and human rights advocate who fled persecution in Egypt and is now a German citizen living in exile. He was invited by faculty at Simon Fraser University (SFU) to give two academic lectures this September. However, IRCC denied his Electronic Travel Authorization (eTA) after demanding documentation from the very Egyptian authorities responsible for his past detention and persecution—putting him in an impossible and unsafe position.
It is deeply problematic to expect political exiles to seek papers from the regime they fled. Canada must stand up for human rights, academic freedom, and freedom of the press. I am calling on Minister Diab to use her discretion and immediately reconsider this decision so Mr. el-Hamalawy can share his scholarship at SFU.